I HAD been reading “HEAL THYSELF for years and had followed Mr. Barkers advice and got a number of books from the Homoeopathic Publishing Company and had become quite an earnest student of the science of healing. Theoretical study is not much use and I was anxious to practise. My first patients were my cart and my dog. The cat had an eruption which the veterinary surgeon was unable to cure.
He looked dirty and mangy and shunned the fire. The s seemed to me Sulphur symptoms and I gave the poor animal Sulphur 3x night and morning and the result was amazing. In three weeks time the eruption had disappeared, the cat looked years younger and he had abandoned his dirty habits and washed himself all day long. It seems to be always wise to give Sulphur to people who are dirty or look dirty.
My second patient was the dog. I have a fox terrier who is very friendly with the cat, but he sniffed contemptuously at the cat when the cat was ill, dirty and neglected looking. He was a very merry dog, but some time ago he was obviously unwell. He refused his food, he had a hot nose, he no longer rushed about but walked sedately. He seemed to be unhappy about his hindquarters, which frequently inspected as far as he could, and he was very thirsty and apparently feverish.
I did not know exactly what to do so I gave him Aconite 2x. His fever improved and he looked a little brighter but he continued to refuse food and did not look well. As there were no obvious symptoms to treat I gave him a few doses of Sulphur 3x because Sulphur is supposed to bring out symptoms and also it is an internal cleanser and drives out trouble by the skin. Sulphur disappointed me and then I thought he might be constipated so I gave him a laxative. Again there was no result.
The poor dog was obviously unwell and in pain. Suddenly, to my horror, he started vomiting blood and then he had bloody diarrhoea. He looked aged, his eyes became as dull as the eyes of a boiled fist and the veterinary surgeon shook his head and spoked vaguely of injections, without telling me what he was going to inject.
I had no wish to have y dog experimented upon and, on looking through my books, I discovered that Arsenicum produces bloody vomiting and diarrhoea. An indication of Arsenicum is restlessness with weakness. The dog was restless and weak. Another very important indication is that people needing Arsenicum feel chilly and crave heat. It was winter, and the dog who used to keep away from the fire crept inside the fender and moaned dreadfully. Without hesitation I gave him Arsenicum 3x every hour.
Possible I gave him doses too frequently. I dare say a homoeopathic doctor would have given him a single dose of Arsenicum 200. Anyway, the result was magical and after three doses Prince feebly wagged his tail, he looked grateful and gave e to understand that he felt better. He also looked interestedly at the little box from which I had produced the Arsenicum pillules.
I then gave him Arsenicum every two hours right through the night. In six hours his bloody vomits had stopped, in nine hours his bloody diarrhoea had come to an en and he allowed me once more to feel his stomach and abdomen and he licked me with a hot tongue full of gratitude. In three days he had quite recovered.
When the veterinary surgeon called, Prince jumped at him with delight. The man of science was amazed when I told him about the Arsenicum I had given him in doses of one thousandth of a grain. He shook his head and said those little doses could not do anything, but he was pleased to see that the dog had quite recovered and it was miraculous.
My next patient was my uncle, who is a jolly old man of 56. He is a City man who attends numerous City dinners. O occasionally he make speeches. He is very popular, red-faced, red-nosed, obese; he takes no exercise and he believes in eating under-done steaks once or twice a day. He used large quantities of condiments, smokes big cigars and, like so many heavy meat eaters, believes in moistening his meals with generous libations to Bacchus. As a matter a fact he was not unlike Bacchus and most of his friends called him that name.
One day Uncle came for dinner. We gave him roast beef, which he proclaimed was the finest thing to give him strength and energy ! He had sherry before dinner and several whiskies, with the minimum of soda, during and after the meal. While smoking one of his cigars we noticed he looked depressed and serious. At first we teased him and asked whether he had lost money in the City or whether he was in love. He sadly shook his head and said it was no joking matter.
He had had a headache at the back of his head for week and his doctor had given him some medicine but it had had no effect so his doctor had sent him to a specialist in Harley Street. He had been that afternoon and the specialist had taken his blood pressure, listened to his heart, taken a cardiogram and performed various other scientific rites. At the end of the interview the specialist told him, with a serious and sympathetic face, “I am afraid, sir, you have a high blood pressure and there is undoubtedly some hardening of the arteries, scientifically called arteriosclerosis.” The specialist had warned him that one day he might have a stroke.
That horrified my uncle as he was quite unprepared for such a verdict and he asked him what could be done. The specialist told him he must live very quietly, not rush about, or stoop, as it might produce a stroke, and he must give up golf. He said his condition was typical of that found amongst successful City men, and although he could give him some medicine, it was not much use and he must make up his mind that he could no longer live the life of a young man and he must be prepared for trough. My uncle paid the usual fee and that was that.
Curiously enough I had just read something written by our editor on high blood pressure and I was tremendously keep to have an obese City man as a patient, although I had only had a little experience in dealing with human beings, such as giving a few of my friends Aconite for colds and Nux vomica for stomach aches, etc.
I told my uncle that I was an earnest student of Homoeopathy and I though that I could guarantee to put him right. Moreover, I would charge him guineas but would leave the fee to his well- known generosity, treating him on the principle, “No cure, no fee”. I told him the medicines would have very little taste, if any, and could not possible do him harm, but he would have to stick to a stick diet which I would give him.
Uncle John made a grimace and said: “Surely you are not going to take steaks away from me,” and I told him that was exactly what I was going to do. I did not want him to look like Bacchus, but I wanted to turn him into an Adonis. I said, “I mean to free you of your Bacchus paunch and shall enable you ton play golf. I am quite sure your trouble is due to over-nutrition and under exercise.” I tried to look very professional and very imposing. Anyway, my uncle was rather desperate, especially as him family doctor had confirmed the diagnosis of the specialist.
Being a disciple of our editor, I put my uncle on a fishless and fleshless diet. For breakfast he was to have bran porridge with China tea and nothing else. Instead of having a sumptuous City luncheon at the Club he was to have three Ryvita biscuit with a little chess or an egg, a large salad, raw fruit and soda water, without the whisky. For dinner I gave him any quantity of vegetables, potatoes, an egg, salad raw fruit.
At first uncle was indignant and told me the diet was insufficient for a by ten. I replied that he could make up the balance by living on his own superfluous fat, of which he could consume three or four pounds a week. We almost quarrelled, but I did not give way and I did not make the slightest concession to his appetite. I also forbade all condiments and allowed him only one small whisky as a nightcap.
For medicine I gave him Nux vomica 3x before meals, Sulphur 6x as a blood clearing medicine, first and last thing, and between meals he was to have Veratrum viride 3x, which is good for high blood pressure, headaches at the back of the head, etc, My uncle made feeble jokes at the tasteless sugar pills and prophesied that he would die and that he would cut me out of his will.
He said he was afraid to have meals with friends as they would laugh a him. We had an argument, but I refused to have a lengthy discussion an told him in the best Harley Street manner that he must follow my orders or communicate with his undertaker. He swore and grinned, grinned an swore, but I took no notice. Anyway, during the first week he lost 42 lbs., and confessed to me that he was much better.
During the two that followed he lost 3 lbs. a week, and I rated him, but he assured me he had kept strictly to my diet. During the forth week he lost 4 lbs. and his clothes were much too big for him, and friends told him that he was looking ill and worm, but by this time he realized that he was on the right road.
